Julie Anne Long‘s You Were Made to Be Mine has been on my shelf for several years. I believe I probably won it or was gifted it at some point.
The mission: Find the Earl of Brundage’s runaway fiancée in exchange for a fortune. Child’s play for legendary British former spymaster, Christian Hawkes. The catch? Hawkes knows in his bones that Brundage is the traitor to England who landed him in a brutal French prison. Hawkes is destitute, the earl is desperate, and a bargain is struck.
Fleeing a savagely shattered dream, the sheltered Lady Aurelie Capet finds refuge in an alias and the warmth and kindness of the Grand Palace on the Thames—until a gorgeous, mysterious disturbance to her peace literally topples through the door.
An unexpected, fierce desire that feels destined, dangerous—and devastatingly sweet—ignites between the sheltered beauty and the jaded spy, and as they slowly unravel each other’s shocking secrets Hawkes closes in on the truth about the earl. Soon it’s clear they can have no future without vanquishing the past: Hawkes knows that loving her means avenging her. Aurelie knows that loving Hawkes means freeing him to do that, no matter the cost.
This book surprised me. I found that I enjoyed it very much. It’s not deep, and the plot is very simple, shallow, even. It’s basically insta…insta-lust if not insta-love. But the characters are sweet; there’s no tedious miscommunication or significant 3rd-act breakup, as everyone seems willing to simply state what they want with aplomb. And you know what, it was refreshing in a way.
I did pick this book up without reading the previous books in the series. However, I was able to follow it without issue. I’ll likely go back and read them at some point because I found this one unobjectionable.
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